Pool & Beach Days

Woohoo! We are on our last recap post of our Florida Vacation!

If you've missed it, you can check out all of our vacation posts:

Disney Arrival

Magic Kingdom

Epcot & Animal Kingdom

Hollywood Studios

We left Disney on Sunday evening, and drove a few hours to DJ's brother's and sister's-in-law house. We were all exhausted, so we decided that Monday would be a low-key pool day. 

All of the kids were in the pool by mid morning! 

It warms my heart to see these cousins together! It's been about 6 years since we've all been together! They all got along beautifully! 

It ended up raining around the middle of the day, which was perfect for me to sneak in a nap! Of course when the rain stopped the kids were back in the pool! 

Adalyn ended up throwing a little tantrum, and then passing out for a late evening nap. 

And then she was back in the pool after dinner! 

Tuesday was beach day! DJ's family live about 45 minutes from the ocean, and we headed to the best little beach. 

We set up the chairs, towels, and toys, and the kids were off! 

Once again, they loved the ocean! 

We walked the beach and found a few sea turtle nests. 

DJ played football with his nephew and brother in law. 

We ended up eating lunch at a restaurant right on the beach. I had the best fried shrimp! 

And then we all stopped for ice cream on our way home! 

The kids hit the pool again, we had dinner, and then baths, and then we celebrated Adalyn's (and her cousins) birthday! 

She's almost 4! 

My sister in law had the cutest cake ordered for her daughter, and it was so sweet to include Adalyn too even though her birthday was a few weeks away. 

Addy was excited to celebrate! 

And open presents!

Wednesday morning, we left bright and early! We had to drive back to Orlando in order to turn in our rental van and catch our flight home. 

The girls sweet talked our pilots in to letting them see the cockpit. 

Addy was my seat buddy, and we were all pink after our day at the beach! We applied several different types of sunscreen (and often) but no matter which kind we used, we were no match for the sun. 

After our flight landed, the pilots let the girls back in the cockpit and they played around for a few minutes, and I was a nervous wreck thinking they were going to make the plane take off. 

Maybe we have pilots in our future!

We had a three hour layover in Dallas, so we ate lunch and Megan found the "lucky chip."

And then we let the girls have at it in the kids play area. I was thankful for hand purifier, and they were thankful to play!

We arrived home in the evening and had two days at home to wash laundry and repack our suitcases for our next adventure! 

Disney's Hollywood Studios

We are back from our last vacation, and I finally have access to the internet and a computer! Yay!

I'm recapping our Disney trip that we took at the end of June and today's our last Disney recap day!

If you missed our Disney recap:

Arrival Day

Magic Kingdom

Epcot & Animal Kingdom

On to Hollywood Studios! 

By Sunday morning, we were exhausted! We had Fast Passes for the Toy Story ride around 9, but we knew that we had an hour to use that Fast Pass, so we decided to head to the park a little later and meet the rest of our group there. 

We had a little photo op before heading out for the day..... the bench that they're sitting on was part of the dresser, and a little murphy bed folded out from that wall. 

We arrived at our bus stop and had to wait a little while before the bus arrived. This was probably our longest wait day for the bus ;) 

The girls were excited, but DJ and I felt like this! 

When we arrived, DJ went one way with the stroller and backpack, and the girls and I went the other way. 

The red carpet was rolled out, so all of the girls walked down it, as we headed in to the park, and a cast member did commentary, which was hilarious! 

Addy wasn't so sure! 

When we arrived, we went straight for the Toy Story ride, but we were also cutting it close for our Fast Pass to Disney Junior Live on Stage, so we decided that the little girls and I would skip Toy Story and head toward the Disney Junior area.

We ended up arriving with some time to spare, and saw Doc McStuffins! 

And then we found our seats for Disney Junior Live on Stage! If you have little kids, then this is a must! Gretchen skipped out on this one, and I'm glad she did because she is way too old for it now! 

After the show, we met Jake. 

And then we headed to lunch at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater!

If you have older kids, then this would be a great place to eat! It's not a character meal, but it has a fun atmosphere, because you sit in cars and it's just like you're at a dine in. Unfortunately, it's super dark because there's a movie playing, and my kids weren't interested in the movie at all, and because I was trying to order and entertain them, I wasn't able to watch it either. You can fit about 2-3 people in a seat, so our group wasn't sat near each other. It was fun, but I probably wouldn't make it a stop if we head back to Disney.

However, this dessert was fabulous! It was a warm doughnut with apple pie filling, ice cream, and caramel! Yum! I totally want to re-create this at home! 

After lunch, we went our separate ways. DJ and Gretchen had a Fast Pass for Star Wars, so the little girls and I had to find some things to do. 

 We met Olaf, which Megan loved! 

Adalyn, however was not a fan! Even though she loves Olaf, this one scared her! She kept telling me that she didn't like the spikes on his head! 

After we met Olaf, we went to the Frozen show which was fabulous! I seriously would have watched it twice! 

After the show, the little girls and I walked around for a while. 

So, here's what I didn't know about Hollywood Studios- most of the park was under construction while we were there. Which meant that the "studios" were gone, and the rest of the rides were too big or scary for the little girls. Also, we rented a stroller, and it had to be returned by a certain time on Sunday, so while DJ went to pick up a rental car (which we used to drive to the Tampa area afterwards) and to return the stroller, which meant that I had two girls that were hot and tired and no where to put them! 

So, we took some photos, ate some ice cream..... 

and rode Toy Story before meeting up with the rest of the family. 

Hollywood Studios had a Pixar show, so we all met back for it, and I was so thankful that the girls uncle took over, because I needed a break! Ha! 

We saw the toy army soldiers, and Megan wanted a picture. 

And she surprised us all by giving him a hug and he hugged her back! So sweet! 

Since the family was back together, we took a big group photo. 

And then everyone talked me in to riding Rockin Roller Coaster! The worst part was the initial take off, after that, I loved the ride!

We also rode Tower of Terror, which terrified me! I had never ridden it before, but was totally talked in to riding it. About half way up, I realized that DJ and I had no written will, and I may have freaked that I was going to die and leave our children without parents. 

We spent the next hour or so, doing some shopping, grabbing dinner, and collectively deciding that we were all ready to go! 

We made our way to a tram, and found our rental van in the parking lot. 

Hollywood Studios was not my most favorite park. I enjoyed it our first time around, but I totally think it can be a half day park if you're going with your family! Especially if your kids are younger. They are re-doing the park and adding a huge Toy Story land, so that may be fun once it's open!

If you have any Disney questions, I'd love to help answer them!

We have a fabulous Disney planner that we used for our first trip and for our Disney Cruise! We didn't use her on this trip, because my mother in law planned everything, but if you need a planner, I'll totally send you her way!